


Ask Your Heart

by justabrain



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Aromantic, Aromantic Geordi, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 19:23:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9137899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justabrain/pseuds/justabrain
Summary: Data asks Geordi to marry him, and Geordi is caught off guard to say the least. After some soul-searching (and ever-wise advice from Guinan), he discovers something about himself. But still the question from Data needs an answer: Will you marry me?





	

Geordi glanced up at Data as he walked from the main part of engineering and into the chief engineer’s office. “Hey, Data, what’s up?”

“Geordi, would you like to get married?”

Geordi shrugged and turned back to the console where he was working. “Well sure, Data, at some point, once I find the right person. Why do you ask?"

Data took a step closer. “I believe you have misinterpreted my question. Would you like to get married _to me_?”

Geordi froze and his mind frantically scrambled to figure out what to say. “ _What?”_ he finally choked out, as he spun to face him.

“Would you like to marry me?” Data repeated, his voice the same as the previous two questions.

“I… you… Where did this come from?” Geordi tried to ask naturally.

Data cocked his head. “We have known each other for many years and are very good frien—”

Waving his hand, Geordi cut him off. “Nevermind. Data… Do you have any idea what marriage _means?”_

“According to Counselor Troi, ‘marriage is an agreement to share who you are with someone else. To spend your lives together, to grow old together.’ Of course, I cannot ‘grow old’, but Counselor Troi assured me that— Are you alright, Geordi?”

Geordi dropped his hand from where he had been rubbing his forehead. “Yeah, I’m fine, Data. I just…” He glanced towards the rest of engineering, where a few people were working. “Why did you have to ask me here? Not, say, on the holodeck or something?”

“My research indicated that it was traditional for the question to be a surprise. I believed that asking you here would come as a surprise.”

“Yeah, well, you got that right,” Geordi muttered. “Look, I’ve got to think about it, ok? I’ll let you know… tomorrow?”

Data nodded. “Then I will ask you tomorrow.”

 

———

 

Geordi sat in his quarters, staring at a padd, the scene earlier that day spinning in circles around in his head. 

Married? Sure, at some point. To Data? Data? Married? He wanted to get married? And to him?? 

He sighed. This was getting him nowhere. Standing, he walked to the door and headed for a turbolift. Maybe some fresh air. A change of scenery.

The doors slid open, and he stepped in. “Deck ten.”

A minute later, he found himself walking into a fairly busy Ten Forward. After ordering a cup of tea, he settled into one of the chairs looking out the windows. He had only taken a few sips, before he heard someone approach from behind. 

“Mind if I join you?” came Guinan’s soft voice.

He should have known she’d come over, he thought with half a smile. “Sure.”

“So,” she said as she sat, “what happened with you and Data?”

“What?” He turned slightly so her cooler image was more squarely in the range of his visor. “How…”

“Normally if either of you are in here, it’s with the other. But you’re alone.”

Geordi sighed. “Yeah.”

“So,” she repeated, “what happened?”

He looked down at the swirls of heat rising from his mug and took a breath. “He asked me to marry him.” 

The weight of that statement sat in silence, before Guinan broke it. “And you said no.”

“No! I said… I said I’d think about it.”

“Ah.”

“Thing is, I want to get married. Eventually. I just don’t know if I want to get married to him. I just always saw myself with a girl, ya know?” He looked back up at Guinan. “I mean, we haven’t even gone on any dates!”

“I see. Well from what I’ve seen, your dating with girls so far hasn’t gone very well.”

Geordi shrugged. “I just need to find the right one.”

Guinan looked at him carefully for a moment. “Do you only picture yourself with girls because you feel attraction towards them? Or do you just assume you should?”

_What?_ Geordi frowned. “I don’t… What do you mean?”

“I _mean_ , romance isn’t for everyone. Not everybody likes other people romantically, even if they like the idea of romance.” When Geordi didn’t respond, she stood. “Enjoy your drink.”

_Not attracted to people romantically?_ He had always assumed that the feeling of liking someone and wanting to know them better was romantic attraction. A _crush_. But now he wasn’t so sure. A knot started to form in his gut, but he pushed it away. Setting down his mug, he turned to scan the room for a familiar face he could ask. Some ensigns from engineering were sitting a few tables away. _No way_ , he thought. _I am_ not _telling them about this._ He was about to resign himself to mulling this over alone, when one of them stood, and, saying a few parting words to the rest of the group, revealed the person sitting behind them. Commander Riker, with a half-empty glass, reading over something on a padd with a small smile on his face. After a moment’s hesitation, Geordi picked up his mug and walked over to him.

“Mind if I join you?” he asked, drawing the commander’s attention.

He smiled and motioned to the chair across from him. “Please.”

Setting down his mug, Geordi nodded to the padd. “What’s that?”

“Oh, just a letter from an old friend.” Riker looked back down at it. “She and I knew each other when we were kids and recently decided to get back in contact.”

“Ah, I see.” He was quiet for a moment, debating how to phrase his question. “Commander, could I ask you something?”

“Shoot,” he said, still looking at the padd.

“This might sound a bit odd, but what does a crush feel like?”

Riker looked up at him. “What does a crush feel like?” he repeated.

Geordi could feel his face growing hot. “Yeah, how would I — or someone, anyone — know that they were interested in someone. Romantically. A crush.”

A smile played on the commander’s face as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table. “Well, for me anyway, every time I see or talk to her, I get a bit giddy and excited, and my heart starts beating. I get these warm feelings, and I can’t stop thinking her. I just want to be around her all the time.”

“Huh.” _That’s… that’s not what I felt. For any of them I don’t think. Sure, I wanted to get to know them, and sure they were nice, but…_

“Do you have a crush?”

“No, I…” _…but it was never that kind of excitement and warm fuzzies._ “…I’m trying to figure out if I’d ever had one,” he replied, still half lost in thought. “Thanks.” Standing, Geordi left the mug on the table for the waiters to clear and headed back to the turbolift and his quarters. The door hissed open, barely on the edge of his attention.

_But if I don’t like girls, romantically anyway, and I know I don’t like guys… Guinan said not everyone likes people in that way. But I want to get married, so is that really me?_ Geordi sighed and sank down onto the couch. _If it’s not romance… what_ do _I want in a relationship?_ He reached over and grabbed the nearest padd. Commitment, of course. Cares about my wellbeing, but also lets me take care of them sometimes. _Doesn’t make a big deal out of the VISOR_ , he wrote, thinking back to his first date and rolling his eyes. _Enjoy spending time together, appreciates my sense of humor, Enjoy the same types of things…_ He thought for a minute, before adding, _I can be myself around them_. He glanced over the list. It wasn’t a lot. Kind of generic, now that he thought about it. 

He yawned and reached up to take off his VISOR. There was a lot he had to do tomorrow. Two diagnostics were scheduled, he had to finish up some crew reports, Starfleet wanted him to look at testing out a new arrangement in the warp coils, and this being the Enterprise, there was probably something that would go wrong that he and Data — _Data_. The reason he was putting himself through this. Geordi leaned his head back and groaned. He had to give Data an answer tomorrow. Yes… or no. Even if Data would let him, Geordi couldn’t put off answering again, or he knew he’d never answer.

He thought back over his list. On one hand, Data did hit all of the points on the list. Well, almost all, Geordi corrected himself with a wry smile. Data may laugh at jokes even less than a Vulcan, but he tried. They certainly enjoyed spending time together. Their times in the Sherlock Holmes program were some of Geordi’s favorites. In fact, many of the times they spent together could be described at “dates”, he supposed. 

Living together wouldn’t be that bad. For that matter, they were in each other’s quarters so often that they practically _did_ live together. They’d probably share a bed. That would be… different. The cuddling might be nice though. 

But Geordi didn’t really want their relationship to change. He liked it how it was. He liked that everything just flowed so naturally between them when they were in sync in engineering, or when they were on the holodeck. And if there was anything Geordi knew about himself, it was that things always became more awkward between him and the person he tries to date. And if Geordi _did_ say yes and it didn’t work out… _it would break his heart._ Geordi shook his head. _I don’t care if heartbreak is part of being human. I’m not going to be the one to introduce him to it._

A whisper of what Data had said earlier snuck its way into Geordi’s consciousness. _Spend your lives together… to grow old together…_ He had to admit, that did sound nice. He already knew he wanted to stay close friends with Data for a long time; this would be a way to guarantee nothing — nobody would get in the way of that. But there was no reason they had to get _married_ in order to stay close.

Geordi yawned again. “Computer, what time is it?”

“It is 0130 hours.”

He groaned. He still didn’t know what he was going to say tomorrow, but staying up any later wasn’t going to help him decide. 

 

———

 

The computer’s wake up came much too soon the next morning for Geordi’s liking. Groggily, he reached over and grabbed his visor. With a sigh, he shuffled over to the replicator. “Coffee, hot, black.” A moment later, the smell of roasted beans wafted up.

Fifteen minutes later, feeling slightly more awake, Geordi made his way to engineering. As he entered, Data greeted him.

“Good morning, Geordi.”

“Morning, Data.”

Data looked closely at the chief engineer. “You look more tired than average. Did you sleep alright?”

_Cares about your wellbeing._ Geordi mentally brushed away the intrusion. “Yeah, just had a late night last night,” he explained, going to a console near Data and starting the first diagnostic. “How about you? How was your dream?”

“The program did not run.”

Geordi glanced over at Data’s glowing figure. “You mean, you didn’t want to have a dream? Why not?”

“No. I did intend to have a dream. However, when I attempted to run the program, it did not. If you have time, I would like your help to run a diagnostic later today.”

_Lets you care for them…_ “Sure. Hey, are we still doing lunch this afternoon?”

“I have not scheduled anything else for that time. Unless you have changed—”

“No, no! I’m looking forward to it.” _Enjoy spending time together…_

The rest of the morning proceeded slowly, as Geordi monitored the diagnostics and looked over the diagrams from Starfleet. It was a fairly normal morning, aside from the thoughts of the previous day that occasionally popped up, and more than once he found himself staring blankly at a screen, entirely lost in thought. 

Finally, he and Data left engineering for Ten Forward and lunch. As they drew closer, Geordi found himself feeling more and more anxious. Data seemed to be oblivious. Soon, they were seated and had ordered their usual. There was silence for a moment.

“Have you decided on an answer?”

Geordi let out a breath of air. “That late night last night? It was spent figuring out what to say. It made me think. About myself, about what I want in a relationship, and…” He looked up at Data. The android’s characteristic glow was as bright as usual, the circuits and connections were their normal varying shades. It was… well, it was Data. The man he knew inside and out and practically knew better than he knew himself. _Did_ know better, if last night was any indication. 

“Geordi?” There was a brief surge in the energy emanating from Data as he spoke. 

Geordi sighed and looked down. “My answer is no. Not yet anyway. We haven’t even gone on any dates,” he explained. 

Again, Data’s brightness increased slightly. “Were our times on the holodeck not what many would consider ‘dates’?”

“Well, yeah, they could have been, but usually on a date, both people know it’s a date. Otherwise…” He shrugged.

“I see.”

“I may not want to get married right now,” Geordi said, returning to the original question and to looking at Data, “but that doesn’t mean it’s not a possibility in the future. Next time though, try starting with dating.”

Data cocked his head. “Are you available tonight?”

Geordi grinned. “That depends, are you asking me on a date?”

“Yes.”

“Then yes, I am.”


End file.
